Public bike-rental program coming to Henderson in spring

In this Evansville Courier file photo, Upgrade Bike Share bicycles are ready for action at the University of Evansville Station. Each bike is equipped with a lock which can be opened with the key contained in a black box behind the seat. The box can be opened with a code the company, Zagster, texts to the user.(Photo: DENNY SIMMONS / COURIER & PRESS, DENNY SIMMONS / COURIER & PRESS)Buy Photo

HENDERSON - Ever find yourself in the mood for a bike ride, but don’t have a set of wheels handy? Well, Henderson will soon join the ranks of cities that have conveniently located bicycles available for hourly rental to the public.

At their meeting Tuesday evening, Henderson City Commissioners passed a resolution providing $9,000 in funding to the Henderson Tourist Commission to pay for the setup of a local bike rental station of five bikes from the national Zagster Bike Sharing Program and under the umbrella of the Evansville Trails Coalition's Upgrade Bike Share program.

According to Henderson County Tourist Commission Executive Director Abby Dixon, there will be several such sponsored stations available here when the program kicks off this spring, most likely in April.

“We’ve raised enough money for three stations,” she said Tuesday. “Two with five bikes and one with eight bikes.” The stations have 10 slots, so the bikes can be moved around and checked into different stations without causing problems.

She said the other sponsors of the program, and exact locations will be identified later. But sponsors such as the city, she said, are the entities paying for the availability of the bicycle stations.

Fees for the bike rental program are $3 per hour, with monthly and annual memberships also available for $15 and $60 respectively, though those memberships only cover the first hour of each ride.

Any money generated from the actual rental of the bicycles “will be earmarked for trails development here in Henderson.”

That could come in the form of actual bike and pedestrian trail construction, wayfinding signs, drinking stations or other improvements.

The Henderson Tourist Commission, along with members of the Henderson Leadership Initiative, including Dixon, Will Monsour and Courtney Vowels developed the plan to provide local bike rental stations.

Vowels, who told commissioners about the group’s experience testing Zagster bikes in Evansville, said it takes “less than five minutes to download the app and set up your payment to rent the bike.”

People wanting to participate must have a smartphone to use Zagster.

Monsour said the program is about health and wellness, but also more.

“It also helps Henderson to be more progressive,” he explained, adding that it should help retain young people who want this type of amenity available in their community.

As for possible locations, city Public Information Officer Donna Stinnett said one logical place would be the Depot building on the riverfront, at the base of First Street, which would provide easy access to local people, riverboat visitors, tourists arriving via cars, and others.

Dixon said Tuesday that another probable location would be adjacent to the “parklet” that is being developed downtown in the 200 block of Second Street.

The expansion of biking and bike trails locally was identified in the 2015 Henderson Vision Plan as a priority, according to a memo from City Manager Russell Sights, “and this initial investment would help to pay the setup, maintenance, insurance, tech support and data collection for one station.”

Funding for improvements and activities related to the Henderson Vision Plan are already included in the current city budget, which means only Tuesday’s resolution approval was needed for the funding. The $9,000 from the city will pay for one year, and Mayor Steve Austin indicated that the city likely would be willing to come back for another year of funding after that.

The Zagster public bike rental program is already established in neighboring Evansville, with automated rental locations on the downtown riverfront there as well as six other locations, including:

The University of Evansville campus.

North Main Street.

West Franklin Street.

The Downtown YMCA.

The Haynie's Corner Arts District.

Deaconess Sports Park on North Green River Road.

Dixon explained that the Henderson stations would actually fall under the umbrella of the already established program by the Evansville Trails Coalition.

She said, for example, that someone in Henderson paying for a monthly or annual membership could use that same membership at the Zagster stations across the river. Evansville memberships will also apply here.

All Zagster bikes have rear lights, bells, a front basket and a portable lock. Cyclists are urged to wear helmets, but they will not be available for rent at the stations.

Other cities in this region with Zagster stations besides Evansville include Louisville, Indianapolis and Bloomington, Ind., and Cincinnati, Ohio.